She handed over the work certificate and papers for the cotton mill to Chunhong.
Zhao father looked over the official papers and felt a great weight lift from his shoulders. His daughter’s future was secure. Zhao Chunhong passed the papers to her father then pulled her friend outside to talk. Some things were best kept between girls.
Zhao Chunhong said. “I think it is a good thing you are going to Sijiucheng. Your family knows you refused to donate a kidney and your brothers will make things hard for you. In the city you will not be run ragged sewing through the night cutting pig feed tending livestock and scraping together tuition money for your eldest brother.
Every time I visit you I find you working from dawn until dark yet no one appreciates a thing. Whenever Li Xixi causes trouble you are the one who takes the blame. Sijiucheng is a big city and you are capable and clever. You will fare well there and at last you will stop being drained dry for people who do not deserve you.”
Li Chuxin nodded. “You are right.”
“Chunhong now that you have a steady job do not be swept away by enthusiasm to volunteer for the countryside. Especially stay far away from the northwest.”
Zhao Chunhong laughed. “I would have gone if I had found nothing else. My parents would have grieved. Now I have this I would be a fool to go eat sand out there.”
Li Chuxin smiled. “Good.”
When she left the Zhao family Zhao mother pressed a bundle of food into her hands. Back at home as she unpacked she found ration tickets hidden inside grain cloth and industrial coupons worth easily two hundred yuan. Touched she placed everything carefully into her space. Zhao mother knew she would need such provisions in the city. She stopped by the cotton mill briefly to transfer the position formally to Chunhong’s name.
These days she cooked only for herself and sometimes ate simply at a restaurant. She realized how rarely she had ever allowed herself such small comforts. Her whole life she had lived for others.
On the tenth day she returned home to find Huo Qiyuan and her father seated inside along with Li Xixi and Li Jianhan who had been discharged. Li Jianhan looked pale and drawn his lips nearly colorless cold sweat beading on his forehead. He was tall yet hunched one hand pressed to his side clearly in pain. His kidney had been removed. Beside him Li Xixi looked rosy and healthy without the slightest sign of illness.
There was no mistaking who had truly undergone surgery. She remembered her own experience how her lower back ached and throbbed how standing even briefly left her exhausted yet when she had mentioned discomfort her eldest brother had scoffed at her complaining and her second brother had claimed one kidney was perfectly sufficient.
Li Weiguo spoke sharply. “Chuxin where have you been? You have not been home nor visited Xixi in the hospital.”
Li Jianhan had kept his own surgery secret from everyone except their father. He looked at his fifth sister so distant and unlike herself. He had not taken her kidney yet she pulled away from him. He resolved to speak with her properly when he recovered.
Li Xixi for her part assumed Chuxin was simply elsewhere recovering from the donation and relished seeing her misunderstood.
Li Chuxin said evenly. “I have been out.”
Li Jianhan shifted wincing as pain flared in his side. He had suffered while she enjoyed herself. She was ungrateful indeed.
Just then public security officers arrived. “Which of you is Li Chuxin? Ten days ago a cyclist struck an elderly man at Litou Street breaking his arm.”
Li Chuxin had foreseen this exact moment. In her past life Xixi had arranged for her to take the blame just before leaving for Sijiucheng. Weak from surgery she had protested her innocence only to be threatened with the ruin of her brothers’ careers. She had confessed to protect them and served half a year in prison. Upon release she had found her brothers looking at her with changed eyes and no one would hire her.
This time she would not carry the burden for someone else. All eyes turned toward her already judging her guilty.
“Comrade Officer.” She spoke calmly and clearly. “Ten days ago I did not ride a bicycle out that day. I did not strike anyone.”
Li Xixi stepped forward voice trembling. “Sister it was you I saw you leave riding toward Litou Street.”
Drawing Chuxin aside she whispered urgently. “Just admit it. It is best for everyone. If you do I will speak for you remind them all you have done for this family. Is that not what you have always wanted their approval? Refuse and I will see this whole family dragged down.”
Li Chuxin met her gaze steadily. “I will never confess to something I did not do. And I do not need their approval anymore. Do as you will.”
She turned to the officers. “The bicycle is mine and kept at home. I did not ride it that day. My sister did.”
Li Xixi shook her head wildly. “It is not true. She is the one who hit him. It has nothing to do with me.”